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(No Model.)

M H mm LM 0G m K LA .M DE 0 I No. 471,684. Patented Mar; 29. 1892.

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j NfrrED "STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL L. HOLDEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ICE-MAKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 471,684, dated March29, 1892.

Application filed March 23, 1391. Serial No. 386,004. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL L. HOLDEN, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvementin Ice-Making Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

In freezing blocks of ice difficulty is experienced in rendering thesame clear and trans parent, because the ice crystals are more or lessseparate,like snow, instead of being compact and crystalline, andbubbles of air are confined therein.

My present invention is for promoting the solid, transparent, andcrystalline character of the ice and preventing the retention of bubblesof air or gas or the formation of vacuumcells. 7

In ice machinery the cans of water are usually introduced intothe brineand then removed after the water is frozen and plunged into hot water toloosen the block of ice. I find that a gentle movement of the water asit is cooled produces a deposit of any dirt or foreign matter and theliberation of air or gases, and this agitation, continued duringthefreezing operation, promotes the crystallization of the ioe'and rendersthe same clear and transparent. I make use of'pans with double sides andbottoms, through which refrigerating-fluid is caused to circulate duringthe freezing operation, and these pans are set closely together, so asto promote the cooling operation and exclude external heat, and as soonas the freezing operation is completed hot brine is caused to circulatethrough the double pans to detach the blocks of ice, which are slid outendwise after the openingof movable ends to such pans.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig.2 is an endelevation, of my apparatus; and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, inlarger size, of one of the pans and the devices therewith connected.

Each pan is comparatively shallow, and itis of the internaldimensionssuitable for the required sizes of ice cakes. The pans A aremade with double sides and bottoms, the interior sheets 2 and exteriorsheets 3 being riveted together at 4 and provided with rimbars 5, thatcome between the edges of the sheets and to which they are riveted. Oneend of each pan is preferably closed and double, and made in the sameway as the sides. The other end is open, but provided with a stopper orend 6, that can be opened or closed. It is preferably hinged at 7 t0 thebottom and provided with a packing of rubber crother elastic materialbetween the bottom and the sides and clamping devices for holding suchend water-tight in position when in use.

The pans A are associated together in any desired manner, preferably invertical ranges supported by posts D and cross-bars E at suitabledistances apart, and the nests or ranges of pans should be inclosed atthe sides and ends to lessen atmospheric influence. Vertical pipes F areprovided with branches 10 to the respective pans and also vertical pipesG with branches 11, and these pipes are so arranged that cold brineorsimilar liquid can be caused to flow down the pipe F through branches 10along through between the inner and outer sheets of the pan, and by thebranches 11 and pipe G to the cooling device of the ice-making machine.

Water, by preference, either filtered or distilled, is supplied into thepans by the pipes H to the required depth, either at .once or graduallyduringthe freezing operation.

I employ agitators in the water preferably in the form of slats I, thatare connected to the cords K, that pass around pulleys 14 15 16 to theactuating ropes or chains 17 18, and these are movedby a crank andconnectingrod or similar means, so that the slats are drawn along in thewater from one end to the other of the water and back again, and it isadvantageous to have this motion comparatively slow, and in practice theslight movement thus produced renders the ice clear and crystalline andfree from air-bubbles, vacuumcells, and seams. The constant movement ofthe slat will prevent it being frozen into the block of ice.

As soon as the ice is frozen sufficiently the cold brine orfreezing-liquid is allowed to run out of the apparatus, and in its placehot brine the blocks or cakes of ice are detached from the pans thehotliquid is run OE and the blocks are slid endwise out from the pans onany suitable chutes or carriers to the place of storage or delivery.

It is preferable to entirely inclose the apparatus with partitions, asshown by dotted lines, of boarding with non-conducting material, and atthe side of such inclosure adjacent to the movable ends of the pansthere are to be doors to give access to the pans in removing the blocksof ice. I

In cases where the gaseous ammonia is conveyed to the refrigerating-pansit is advantageous to provide ammonia-pipes in the brine that iscontained in the double sides and bottom of the still.

I do not claim a range of pans with movable ends and Water-supply pipes.In my improvethe pans being exposed to the pressure of a high column-ofwater. Hence the pans are not liable to injury by pressure. I am alsoaware that rigid agitators have been employed in the water that is beingfrozen; but the same either become frozen into the ice or interfere withthe cake being solid; In my improvement the agitator, being moved by aflexible connection, rises above the ice and moves over the same as thewater freezes.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the pan in anicemaking apparatus, of an agitator that is free to rise and fall and aflexible connection from the same to a motor, whereby the agitator ismoved in the water, but is free to accommodate itself to the ice as itis formed and to be moved over the same, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the ranges of pans in an ice-making apparatus,of agitator-slats, horizontal cords between the pans and pulleys for thesame, and flexible connections between the cords and slats, whereby theagitators can be moved during the freezing operation, substantially asspecified.

Signed by me this 16th day of March, 1891.

' DANIEL L. HOLDEN.

\Vitnesses:

GEO. T. PINOKNEY, WILLIAM G. MOTT.

